If you read the auction, there is much ado about this finished being applied when new, by the finest re-finisher in all of the land, blah, blah...
Also, don't assume it didn't work by the 60s/70s. I'm still daily-watching a '58 Zenith "eyeball" set, and it's only had two caps replaced. Basement/rec-room use; perhaps... "Dead?" Not always... I was seeing sets of this vintage tossed well into the 80s.
